Feed-water regulator.



En. 823,635. 1 1 EH. ELOUEE.

'E Ja-agr'. a

PATENTEE JUNEIQ, 1,906.

- nected t FRED HgrLoUrnror BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FEED-WATER BGULATOm.

y Application liled January 11, 1904. Serial No. 1878.525. l

' .Be it known that I, `FRED H. PLOUFF; of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, havev invented certain -neW Thisinvention relates to apparatus for automatically controlling. theSupplyl of feed- Water to'a-'-stearn-generator or similar receptacle,and more particularlyk ,to thatclass yof f suchdevices in'Which theboiler Waterland Isteam actalteriately on a chamber contain'- u ing .avapo'rizable liquid the pressure fromL whichy istransrhittedf -to anexpansible chamber lv'rlich"controls a euitable device for go'vu erningthefsupplyoffeedfwater; A V f Thefobje'ctof h inventi nis to render theaction offapparatus of this kind lniore quick, sure,- and ,uniformv rThe acc'ornpanying;- drawing re}; resentsy a sectional view of afeed-Water regulatorcon-- structedirr accordancewith my invention.

1 represents the boiler, having its` steam pipes` 4'witha-Water andsteam chamber A5, ocatedatthe average or normal Water-.line level'ofithefboilerg The chamber 5 'is formed in theglower'part of 'ajcasing) inthe upper party of' v'vliich` is'". aliquidichambery 6,'separated .fronr'f tlief chamber' 5 byy a hfeat-conductingl intheflwerpartyof `clieunb'er 6j and connects with? a elevated reservoirand eX ansionchamberjQ'and 'also With/a ipe 10,*W` y'ch' eX-v tends??to"i,an';expan'sible c amber` 11;` The;

1 lower Wall "oi'f'thel latter is formed by a flexible diaphragm112`actingfonf a' vertically-'movable f sternl', 'opp'osition'toaspringvli." The stem' 1331s. 'connected to! a valve 15 whichcontrolsthefeedwater supply toxthejboiler 'in "son-ie vsuitable;vmanner-eas, .for instance,l

br-pass to the 'the' assag suitablevaporizable' liquid, such. as t'liqiiid-nonefreezable. at'ordinary y (teni 'iill's'ttheicharnberf 1 1;the pipe fthe inleteorince. offconduit. 8. Some ai'rfmay specificationof Letters Patent.

f andl useful Im roverne'nts-v in Feed-VVaterl YRegulators, of W iichthefollowing isa speciand'water .spaces connected, respectively, by'

e so conA y t'jupon" its `operationf'itwould'o en v efleadingtotheboiler. Any ot er. wel `fedf-` Wateri controlling device i may` eactiijated'fbyv the v'expansible cham-- Sorber 1 efchaniberfto a pointlabove rammed Jenaro., -190e.

be entrapped inthe closed pocket part o the chamber` above thefliquidcontained therein is prac ically avacuumatorthe outsideatmosphere.

of the chamber' 9,11ntil t e li]v uid-chamber,

chamberg isfpartiall. yfilledi.. `Theo eningisl then losed bythel p ug,(`shovvn inl t A ing) andthe apparatus heated-to acompara-l air,`contained inA the topi of fchamber 9 ,to .be

pressure has', becoma sufficientlyf,y the pears'at theopeningjr,the'latteris`v closed.r

i aratus` except 'that lin] the upper of above the liquid'inchamvapor'at val um?" Usually the:l vacuumsobtainedlis Aas,

denserof'a steam-engine.-

As thewter-.level in `the portion lo its-'latentlieatr togthegliquid'above sure there formed by theupperpart of the' chamber 6. The upperThe vacuum Ais produced the following?" manner: Water is introduced intothe: appa.- ratus ,through the. openin shown at they top theeirp'ansiolel chamber int e-valve-con- A troller, and V,the conduits. 1are filled f and i; thel tively high temperature.. :Thiscauses the 75raised f tor aV high pressure and,"l .also` causes l much ofthe aircontained in th`e.wate`r.and-,i411-I the top'` ofrchamb'er, llrto be.nrpell'edf-an'd. A gathered theztopoiuchamber:9). When the.A

f iquid-chamber (S2/above theoutletfom coin-.AlA I pressure" so muchless thanthatofI f. the atmospriere vthat it may vfor all practical. if

purposes be regarded as, and called ,fafvacu-- A u boiler fluctuateSvthe .jboillerfl lsteam 1 and AWater-fy alternately, ill thef' chambery5.1l The presenceof-.lstearn: ini" said chamber `at` lowf-water causesa- ,partial i vap oriza'tioirofjtlie liquid vin chamber 16 over'- lyingr,the Vpartition 7.,1. said steam giving upa dinary ,temperaturescontaining, substan-l tiallyzonly the vaporof'the. liquid usedv inv theapparatus ata. pressure much'less than that 0 e drawv `This,operation isperformed'asmanyitimes as,"

mayE be necessary/to cause-fthe expulsion .of

practically all `oifthe air v contained -in .the alp-.

. T90 duit 8.` When the)liquidiS,..al1'owedtocoolv "then to the.ordinary. tem lerature', .thespaod lher `Q'isA practicallyv free fromairand contains only?. a-qu'antityofi nearlyucompletej as is :obtained`in the` conf 1 v o caused i through' :the expansion 1,4 andJvaliori'zation offtlieywat'el. inchambers- 6 andf9 the liquidfiri pikeilOifis*forcfec-ifinto `the chamber) 1,4causin'git Le diaphragm l2 todci IIC prets stem 13 and open valve 15, thereby .starting the' pump inoperation'or allioWingA the feed-Water to be forced into the boiler. Asthe water-level in4 the boilerrises Water' occu ies the chamber 5 inplace-fof steam and eing inca able of adding enofugh heat to the liquidin c amber 6 4and connections to vmake up for the loss of heat byradiation from the exposed surfaces a decrease takes place in thevapor-pressure above the surface of the liquid in said chambers 6 and 9.The liqg'rid is thereby allowed to return to chambers 6 and 9 from thechamber 11, and the sprin 14 is permitted to elevate the stem 13 and' cose the valve 15, thereby stopping the supply of feed-Water.

The chamber 9, by reason of the vacuumsp'aceinthe' upper part thereof,acts as an expansion-chamber to take care of the slight expansion of theliquid in conduit and connections due' to heating and as areservoirchamber to maintain a supply of liquid over the inlet-orificeof conduit 8. tutes a condensing-chamber for the vapor,

It also constiwherein, owing to its exposed position, which permitsrapid radiation, and also on account of the low pressure therein, thevapor is quickly condensed when the Water-level in the boiler has risento such an extent as to iill the water and steamchamber with Water.Devices of this character, in which the chamber 9 is absent and the pipe10 forms anunbroken connection with the conduit 8,' are defective intheir action. One reason for this is that in order to obtain a quickvaporization of the liquid in chamber 6 as thin a layer as possible lofliquid must be maintained over the partition 7 but when only a smallbody of liquid covers this partitionv there is not suf-v iicient liquidin saidchamber to effect the de sired movements of the diaphragm l2Without uncovering the inlet of conduit 8. Bv

providing the chamber,` 9 I am enabled to maintaina thin layer of liquidover the partition 7, While securing suiticient movement of the liquidto -properly actuate the diaphragm 12. Another reason is that when theconduits and chambers are filledv With liquid the cooling of the ,sameafter it has once been heated bythe steamy and been expanded is -so slowand the contraction in consequence also sogradual that the valve 15 Willnot be closed quickly enough. When the chamber 9 is omitted or when itis completely' filled, ,With.liquidv and the valve 15 is closed, onstearrrbeing introducedinto the chamber 5 the device acts readilyenough, since the liquid veryv quickly expanded and the valve at once'opened, whereupon water is immediv. 6o-

ately supplied tothe boiler; but the contrae-' tion is. soA slow that'the valve remains open and Water continues to be supplied until longafter the proper level has been reached. Thus When operated in thismanner the apparatus is not suiiiciently sensitive for the purpose ofsure in chamber 11 relieved, so that the valve i 15 is almostimmediately closed upon the Water in the boiler rising above the levelof chamber 7. i

I do not wholly confine myself lo the enlploym'ent of a pocket inchamber' G above the llower end of conduit 8, as the device will operateWithout such feature 1. In a teedivater regulator, a chamber containinga quantity of vaporizable liquid insuilicient toiill the same and havingan internal pressure at ordinary temperatures con-- siderably lower thanthat of the atmosphere, a Water and steam chamber in close,heattransferring relation with the first chamber, and adapted to beconnected with a boiler' above and below the water-level thereof, andiiuideoperated feed-controlling means connected with said 'lirstchamber.

2. In a feed-Water regulator, the combination With the boiler, of awater and steam chamber connected 4with the water and steam spaces ofthe boiler, a vaporizing-surface of relatively large area formed on avWall of said chamber, a liquidacham'ber including said surface, aconduit of relatively small aperture leading from said liquidchamber lfor carrying a liquid to operate a feed-con`, troller, and avacuum-chamber ,containing a quantity of liquid and forming an overlyingpocket in branch connection Wi th the interior of said liquid-chamberand conduit.

3. In a feed-Water regulator, a Water and steam chamber, aliquidclnimber above the latter and in heat-transferring relationtherethe Water and air ch'amber, an.v expansible chamber, a conduitleading from the vacuumchamber to the Water and air chamber andl openingbelow the top thereof', a secondiconduit leading from the vacuu11i-chamber to the expansible 'chamberaa body of Water filling theexpansible chamber, the conduits andthe lower portions of the Water andair and vacuum chambers, and feed-controlling means operable by saidcxpansible chamber.

IIO

.i feed-control er Acomprising a va ve and- Huid- 'l operated mechanismfor actueting the same, a conduitl connecting said controllerv and llliquid-chamberseid'liquid-chamber, conduit 1.o mdf a. chmbeijin thefeedcontljollerbeing filled with a vaporizable'iiquid andevacuum-chamber'above said liqui -chambelj in colninunicationtherewithand with the ,con-" duit', the said vacuum-chamber containing a`lquantity of liquid in its lower portion and at t 5 `ordinarytemperatures, a yaniulni` inits up- L per portion.

In testimony'whe'reof Ihiwe aiiixed Iny i l signatuiel in presence oftwo Witnesses. f

l FR-ED n. PLOUFF.l Witnesses: c*

R. MIPIBsoN, A.'CLIRATIGAN

